Oscillation of certain functional differential equations (Q1324331)

The following functional differential equation is considered: \[ \ddot x(t) + p(t) \dot x(t-h) = q(t) \dot x(t-h_ 1) + H \biggl( t,x \bigl( g(t) \bigr) \biggr) \tag{E} \] where \(p,q : [t_ 0, \infty) \to R = (- \infty, \infty)\), and \(H:[t_ 0, \infty) \times R \to R\) are continuous, \(h\) and \(h_ 1\) are nonnegative real numbers, and \(g(t) \to \infty\) as \(t \to \infty\). Some criteria for the oscillatory behavior of the solutions are presented. The following assumptions are important for the study: \[ h \geq h_ 1, \;p(t) \geq q (t+h_ 1-h), \text{ for } t \geq t_ 0 + h - h_ 1,\;(h - h_ 1) q(t) \leq 1 \text{ for } t \geq t_ 0. \tag{1} \] \[ \liminf_{t \to \infty} \int_{t-h}^ t \bigl( p(s) - q(s + h_ 1-h) \bigr) ds>{1 \over e}, \tag{2} \] \[ \limsup_{t \to \infty}\int_{t-h}^ t \bigl( p(s) - q(s + h_ 1 -h) \bigr) ds>1. \tag{3} \] Here are some of the results in the paper: Theorem 1: Let conditions (1) and either (2) or (3) hold and suppose that \(\dot p(t) \geq 0\) for \(t \geq t_ 0\), \(xH (t,x)>0\), \(x \neq 0\), and \(H\) is increasing in \(x\). If, for every \(c>0\) and \(T \geq t_ 0\) \[ \lim_{t \to \infty} \int_ T^ t \int_ T^ s {H(u,c) \over P[t,s]} duds = \infty \quad \left( P[t,s] : = \exp \left( \int_ s^ t p(u) du \right) \right), \tag{4} \] then for every bounded solution \(x\) of \((E)\) either \(x\) or \(\dot x\) is oscillatory. Theorem 2: Let condition (4) of Theorem 1 be replaced by: \[ \int^ \infty \left[ \left( \int_{t_ 0}^ s H(u,c) du \right) - Cp(s)\right]ds = \infty \] for every positive constant \(c\) and \(C\). Then the conclusion of Theorem 1 holds.